1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to the cleaning and preventive maintenance of sailboats, and more particularly, to a device for maintaining a spar track for the free running of sail slides and boltropes under sail loadings.
2. Background Information
Sails, supporting spars and rigging form a sailboat system for movement and navigation. A spar can generally be defined as a pole or system of poles used to support sails. Spars are used herein to describe other sail supports such as mast, booms, gaffs and headfoils. The handling of sails to allow navigation of the sailboat, particularly the hoisting and lowering of sails, depends on spar tracks or grooves and mating slides, slugs, boltropes and luffropes.
Tracks can generally be described as elongated slot-like or channel-like fittings having a T-shaped or bottle-shaped profile and are normally longitudinally positioned on a spar. Slides or slugs are usually interchangeably referred to and may be simply described as fittings that interconnect the sail and the spar track to hold the sail thereto.
Similarly, boltropes and luffropes typically function to interconnect and hold the sail to the spar. Boltropes are usually stitched to a bottom edge or foot of a sail, while luffropes are typically stitched to a luff edge or forward edge of a sail. Boltropes and luffropes are substantially equivalent to one another, although boltropes normally are used with different types of spars than luffropes. For instance, boltropes are typically used with boom tracks, while luffropes are normally used with mast tracks. Therefore, boltropes will be defined herein to include luffropes.
A number of spar tracks are fabricated from metal, metal alloy, or plastic materials. Spar tracks so constructed are designed to mate with boltropes and slides fabricated from non-metallic natural materials or non-metallic synthetic materials. Some spar track and mating slide arrangements are completely made of metal, metal alloy or plastic materials. The metal of popular choice for fabricating spar tracks is aluminum. This choice is dictated in part because of aluminum's great strength, durability, light weight and low cost with respect to other marine metals; and because aluminum spars will normally be hollow and comprise extruded aluminum tracks.
Slides and boltropes are inserted within the spar tracks through openings therein. The inserted slides and boltropes cannot become free at the narrow slotted area of a spar track, and thus, are retained within a larger internal portion thereof. Lowering or raising a sail requires the slides and boltrope to slide within the spar track usually under heavy loadings of the sail. As alluded to previously, maintaining the spar tracks for the free running of the slides and boltropes are of prime importance for sail, track and slide preservation, as well as sailboat safety and enjoyment. Impediments to the lowering and raising of sails through the binding, jamming, buckling or breaking of slides and boltropes can be disastrous. This is particularly true on choppy or rough water and windy during conditions.
Friction caused by the effects of weathering and corrosion are the main villains to prevent the free and sure running of boltropes and slides within the spar tracks. A build-up of grime, and when in seawater, salt, is an ongoing problem with tracks and slides fabricated from plastic. Dampness, salt spray and high humidity exposes all metal tracks and metal slides to a constant threat of corrosion and oxidation. Even stainless steel and aluminum fittings will corrode or oxidize under certain circumstances, depending on the alloy used in their manufacture, and the amount of exposure the stainless steel and aluminum receive.
Metal tracks and slides, like all metals used for marine applications, are normally subjected to three types of corrosion, which contributes to causing undesirable friction and related difficulties in sail handling. The three types are galvanic corrosion, electrolyte corrosion and atmospheric corrosion.
Generally, galvanic corrosion occurs when two dissimilar metals, wherein one acts as an anode and the other acts as a cathode, are coated with an electrolyte. An electrolyte can simply be described as a liquid that produces an electric current. The current flows from the anode to the cathode which causes corrosion through deterioration of the anode. Large bodies of freshwater usually carry impurities that can harmfully serve as an electrolytic. Saltwater, however, is a much better conductor than freshwater, and thus, poses a more serious problem to metal spar tracks and slides.
Electrolytic corrosion normally results from an electric current coming from an outside source, such as a leakage due to an improper grounding systems, and is not self-generating. An electrolytic must still be present to carry the current from the anode to the cathode, but the metals do not have to be dissimilar.
Lastly, atmospheric corrosion usually occurs through a presence of corrosive elements such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, sulfur and chlorine with water or dampness. Atmospheric corrosion typically results in etching, pitting and rusting in iron, steel and other ferrous metals. Also, atmospheric corrosion forms greenish or brown oxide films on bronze and brass, as well as causing brittleness in brass. Similarly, it results in pitting and the forming of cloudy or dull oxide streaks or films on aluminum spars with extruded tracks.
As mentioned previously, the results of corrosion-induced pitting, rusting and the forming of oxide films and streaks at the metal tracks and slides, as well as the build-up of salt or grime thereon increases the unwanted friction between surfaces of the tracks and slides. This friction resists the movement of the slides and boltropes and effectively acts to break their movement during sail hoisting or lowering.
In some instances, slides bent or buckled through jamming cause an additional stress to adjoining sail cloth resulting in premature wear, fatigue and subsequent breakdown or failure. Additionally, the build-up of salt or grime or the fouling effects of corrosion within the spar tracks often acts as an abrasive. The abrasive track surface frequently results in harmful chafing and abrasion of the boltrope as it runs through the track, especially when the boltrope is under tension, and there is a likelihood of movement. Unfortunately, boltrope tension and movement are conditions that are almost always present when a sailboat is on the water. Further, metal tracks which discolor through oxidization, in turn, often undesirably discolor or stain the sail cloths. Discolored and stained sailcloth enhances the sail's ability to pick up abrasive dirt and grime and increases its ability to and associated premature failure.
Various approaches to the needs and problems associated with eliminating friction caused by corrosion and weathering at the surfaces of spar tracks and mating slides and boltropes include, for example, the following. Bare metal spars and their tracks are usually washed and treated with a mild abrasive or a sandpaper to remove corrosion, and thereafter, are waxed to reduce friction. However, this surface treatment is extremely difficult to perform once the spar has been stepped or mounted to the sailboat keel or the deck. The upper, narrow, slot-like opening in the spar track makes reaching, cleaning and coating the wider, lower portion of the internal track surface particularly difficult even when the spar is not standing.
Once the spar is stepped, the internal track surface, especially the portion of the track adjacent the mast head, is virtually inaccessible without going aloft in a bosun's chair, climbing steps, or hauling oneself aloft on a halyard. Notably, a bosun chair is typically needed to free both hands to effectively perform the cleaning and maintenance tasks. Trying to enter the bosun's chair from climbing steps at the sparhead while the boat is even gently rocking can result in being pitched over, and thus, can be very risky. Additionally, building or purchasing climbing steps, which are normally welded or riveted to aluminum spars and bolted to wooden spars, are usually a costly option.
Bare metal spar tracks are also painted to form an impervious layer thereon. This layer denies access to the metal by an electrolyte and oxygen and prevents current flow and oxidation. The main shortcomings of paints, resins, lacquers and similar coatings and films is that the coating must be applied to the entire internal surface, that is, every corner, crevice and curve. As previously mentioned, it is extremely troublesome to generally access and coat the internal track surface of a standing spar without going aloft. To coat the entire internal track surface even with the help of a spraying device is difficult whether the spar is standing, or is laying down in a cradle. This shortcoming is greatly intensified when it is realized that preventing microscopic holes supplied by time and abrasion within the protective coatings that allow corrosion to begin is especially tough.
Bare metal tracks, other than stainless steel, are frequently anodized to coat the metal with a corrosive-resistant material. Chrome and gold are sometimes used for this purpose. Unfortunately, scratches or damages of any kind to the anodized surface exposes the metal and initiates corrosion. Also, corrosive-resistent anodic coatings frequently do not protect against direct spray that detrimentally pits the anodized surface with deposits.
To protect anodized surfaces from pitting, they are often initially treated with a clear plastic lacquer or an epoxy paint and then waxed. However, as previously mentioned, the application of paints and other coatings to provide a protective film over the entire internal spar track surface is an arduous task after the spar has been stepped.
Some metals other than the popular aluminum have been selected to fabricate tracks because of their extremely corrosive-resistant characteristics and their excellent strength, such as, monel and titanium. However, these metals are comparatively expensive with respect to aluminum. Other metals are often too heavy for track applications.
Some metal tracks are provided with slides having metal or plastic ball or roller bearings and are mechanically designed to be adjustable under sail loads. However, these slides are typically comparatively complex in construction, are mostly used on large boats from about 35 feet and longer, and are comparatively costly with respect to other slides.
Some spar tracks use plastic and nylon slides. The disadvantage of plastic and nylon slides in seawater is that even a slight coating of salt on them will often stop the movement of the plastic and nylon slides.
To cope with these problems, prior art cleaning, lubricating and waxing devices usually comprised rags and sponges, which are coated with an anti-corrosive material and caused to run inside a spar tracks by tieing the rag or sponge between a downhaul line and a hoisting line. A major disadvantage of such devices, however, is that the rags and sponges do not satisfactorily reach and contact the entire internal surface of the spar tracks.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,472 describes an implement for cleaning bolt line tracks in sailboats, which includes a pair of stiff, transversely spaced, insertion cores that are enclosed in a bonded nappy fabric to make a stiff, non-buckling assembly. The implement is connected between a halyard line and a trailing line, and the first core is inserted into the bolt line track. The two lines are worked reciprocally to move the implement along the bolt line track to dislodge material. However, this stiff, non-folding, non-buckling design may not allow substantial conformance to and contact with the entire internal bolt line track surface; may not be adjusted to substantially conform to and engage the entire internal surface after insertion within the track when it initially does not conform to nor engage the track surface; and may not allow the second core to assist the inserted first core in cleaning the upper slot-like area of the bolt line track.